The answer came to her on the wind—murmured voices, coming along the path. A young couple appeared. Late night strollers, no doubt evading parental supervision.
They froze when they spotted the Dragon shifter. He might look human, but he was a towering, long haired, rather sculpted example of such. In scaled clothing and wearing shades.
Nothing odd about that. Nothing at all. At least he wasn’t naked. Naked would have sent them packing in a hurry. As would waving around a sword.
“Excuse me,” the Dragon said in a cheerful, calm voice. “I was wondering if you’ve seen my sister.”
Sister? Dani almost snorted. Yet somehow, the ploy worked. The couple relaxed a fraction, and let him approach without bolting for cover.
Dani grimaced. Those two would never survive on the street.
Her assessment was confirmed when the young man stepped forward.
“What does she look like?” he asked.
The Dragon dropped his voice as he stalked closer. It was more difficult to hear, but Dani’s ears were sharper than they used to be.
“About this tall.” He gestured with a hand. “Long, black hair with a white streak in it. Skinny.”
Skinny? That was the best he could do? She supposed stating that the woman he searched for could drop a boulder on you wouldn’t be constructive and would likely get him thrown into the nutso-run-away-now category.
The young man shook his head. “Sorry. We’ve seen a few people around tonight, but no one like that.”
The Dragon shifter thanked them and watched them walk away. He raised his head and sniffed the air.
Dani hunkered down even lower. The wind blew off the river. No way he could scent her from where he stood. But the predator shone through the man as his head lifted and his long hair danced in the breeze.
She shivered, and then flinched when wings erupted from his back. In seconds, a Dragon crouched where he’d stood. His launch into the air tore divots from the grass.
One second he was there, the next, gone.
Her heart pounded, but why did she feel this odd sense of loss? He was the enemy. And he had testicles. Two excellent reasons to avoid the hell out of him.
Dani crouched in her hedge until she was certain he’d flown away. The Dragon wouldn’t be alone. It was his cohorts hunting from the ground that she needed to lead astray.
She darted across the street to the spot where he’d landed. The sword lay in the shrub. The blade gleamed dully, as though drained of its essence. Try as she might, she couldn’t lift it.
She left it as an unusual surprise for the maintenance workers and skulked along the path. For her plan to work, she couldn’t let her pursuers detect that she’d entered the river. She jogged in the direction from which the couple had come—toward the Louise Bridge.
The path took her right to the foot of the century-old steel-truss structure.
Dani stopped and stared. It rose well above the river. But being as old as it was, it didn’t soar above the water like the newer bridges.
She wouldn’t want to try this as a human. But she wasn’t human anymore. While her beast didn’t swim well, it still lent her human form the strength it would need.
At least, she hoped so.
She scuffed her feet and ran her hands over tree bark.I was here. Follow me.With a last glance at the sky, she walked onto the bridge.
Concrete was a difficult surface to track over. Steel was even harder. Dani rubbed her scent in a few places to establish where she’d gone.
With one eye trained above her, she ran the length of the bridge. Touched some things, scuffed her shoes, and then left scent on the other end as well.
Panting for breath, she backtracked. The bridge had a high mesh barrier along the outer edges to keep people from doing what she intended to do.
It would be better if she could climb the barrier, but that would leave her scent. She peered through it, into the swirling water. Not the nicest water to submerge in. Flowing up from the States into Canada, the river picked up its share of undesirable substances along the way. She’d likely need every bit of her new shifter mega-immunity.
How far to its murky depths? Twenty-five, thirty feet, tops. Add another six for jumping the barrier. At this time of year, the water depth was only about ten feet.
